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  Linji said, “Sometimes I take away the person and not the surroundings; sometimes I take away the surroundings and not the person; sometimes I take away both the person and the surroundings; sometimes I take away neither the person nor the surroundings.”

  1.Also Record of Linji, Discourse 10.

  Case 209 Lu Gen’s Laughing and Crying1

  The official Lu Gen studied under Nanquan Puyuan. When Nanquan passed away, he went to the memorial service at the temple, paid his respects, then gave a hearty laugh.

  The temple supervisor said, “Our late master and you were teacher and student; why aren’t you weeping?”

  Lu said, “If you can say something, I’ll weep.” The supervisor was silent. Lu gave a loud wail. “Alas! Alas! Our late master is long gone from the world!”

  Later Changqing Lan’an heard about this and commented, “Laugh, Lu Gen, don’t cry!”2

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 12, Commentary on the Verse.

  2.The commentary Zen Forest Records observes that, on the basis of other sources such as the Jingde-Era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp , Changqing’s comment ought to read, “Should Lu Gen have cried or should he not have cried?” (T 51:279b).

  Case 210 Linji’s Four Functions1

  Sometimes perception precedes function;

  Sometimes function precedes perception;

  Sometimes perception and function are simultaneous;

  Sometimes perception and function are not simultaneous.

  1.For the Four Perceptions and Functions , see Case 191, note 1.

  Case 211 Qianfeng’s “Take Up the One”1

  Yuezhou Qianfeng said to the assembly, “Take up the One; do not take up the Two. Neglect this first step, and you fall into that which is secondary.”

  Yunmen stepped forward from the assembly and said, “Yesterday a monk came from Tiantai, then went to Nanyue.”2

  Qianfeng said, “Cook! There will be no work today!”3

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 24, Commentary on the Main Case.

  2.Tiantai is located in Zhejiang Province, and Nanyue is located in Hunan Province. Both are far from Qianfeng’s place in Yuezhou .

  3.Generally, managing work was the province of the duty-monk , not the cook . Work was sometimes canceled in a Chinese monastery as a reward for an awakening or a particularly insightful act or statement.

  Case 212 Mañjuśrī Gives Rise to Views1

  Nanquan said, “Last night at midnight2 Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra were formulating views on ‘Buddha’ and ‘Dharma.’ I gave each of them thirty blows with my stick and expelled them to the Double Iron-Ring Mountains.”3

  At that point Zhaozhou stepped forward from the assembly and said, “Master, who, exactly, is the one who should have been struck?”

  “Was I at fault?” Nanquan asked. Zhaozhou bowed.

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 26, Commentary.

  2.The term “midnight” is a common metaphor in Zen for the undifferentiated source.

  3.In Buddhist cosmology, the Double Iron-Ring Mountains are the outermost pair of the nine mountain ranges that encircle Mount Sumeru. In the area between the two ranges there is no differentiation between yin and yang, absolute and relative, etc. The region is said to be the dwelling place of devils, demons, and preta (hungry ghosts).

  Case 213 Tettō’s Admonitions

  In his Admonitions, Tettō Gikō of Daitoku-ji said, “The Tathagata’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye I will entrust to no one. I will bear it myself until Maitreya descends to this world. Ahh…!”1

  1.Tettō’s statement is based on the legend, found in the Transmission of the Lamp and elsewhere, that, after transmitting the Dharma to Ānanda, Mahākāśyapa went to Cockfoot Mountain with the Buddha’s robe to await the coming of Maitreya.

  Case 214 The Infinite Realms

  In the infinite realms, self and other are not separated by even a hairsbreadth. The ten periods of past, present, and future are never separate from this very instant.

  Case 215 Letian Asks about the Dharma

  Bai Juyi (Letian), the provincial governor, said to the priest Niaoke Daolin, “What a dangerous place you’re sitting in.”1

  “What danger am I in?” said Niaoke. “The governor’s danger is far greater.”

  “I govern this land,” said Juyi. “What danger could I be in?”

  Niaoke answered, “Passions burn, the intellect never rests. What could be more dangerous than that?”

  The governor asked, “What is the central teaching of the Buddhadharma?”

  Niaoke replied, “Do no evil, practice all good.”2

  “Even a three-year-old child could have told me that,” responded the governor.

  “Even a three-year-old can say it, but even an eighty-year-old cannot practice it,” said Niaoke.

  Bai Juyi bowed and departed.

  1.Niaoke Daolin was famous for doing zazen on the limb of a pine tree. See Niaoke Daolin in the Biographical Notes.

  2.This saying appears in numerous texts; an early example is found in the Dhammapada: “Avoid all evil, perform all good, purify your own mind; this is the teaching of all buddhas” (T 4:567b).

  Case 216 Fubei Answers a Woman

  A woman named Lingxing asked the priest Fubei, “The word that can’t be said despite the greatest effort—to whom will you impart it?”

  “I have no such idle talk,” replied Fubei.

  Case 217 Form Is Emptiness

  A sutra says, “Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form.”1

  1.This passage is found in several of the Prajñā-pāramitā sutras, the best-known example being the Heart Sutra (T 8:848c).

  Case 218 Linji Asks for Alms

  Yun’an took the high seat and said:

  Linji entered the capital on his begging rounds.1 He went to the door of a house and said, “Just put your usual fare into my bowl.” The woman replied, “What a glutton!”

  Yun’an commented, “When that old woman died, I wouldn’t have given her a funeral!”

  1.For “begging rounds” the original reads , a term that literally means “to educate in the Dharma, to guide toward the truth” but which in Zen is also used to mean mendicancy. Alms-begging was regarded as a means to educate the laity in the virtue of dāna, giving.

  Case 219 Zhaozhou’s “Talk around the Fireside”

  Zhaozhou said to the assembly, “When I was on pilgrimage in the south, once around the fireside there was talk of ‘no guest or host.’ Since then, no one has taken the matter up.”1

  1.In Zen there is a well-known saying, “By the fireside, there is no guest or host” . The ZGJI comments, “In the circle around the hearth there is no guest or host, there is no rank or ceremony.”

  Case 220 Guishan Picks Up a Grain of Rice

  Guishan Lingyou picked up a grain of rice and said, “Millions upon millions of grains of rice issue from this single grain. Where does this grain issue from?”

  Answering himself, he said, “You mustn’t take this single grain lightly.”1

  1.The original exchange in the Compendium of the Five Lamps, chapter on Shishuang Qingzhu, is as follows:

  The master [Shishuang] went to Mount Gui and was placed in charge of rice supplies. One day as he was sifting rice, Guishan said to him, “You mustn’t spill donated rice.” “I haven’t spilled any,” replied the master. Guishan picked a single grain off the ground and said, “You claimed not to have spilled any. What’s this?” The master had no reply. Guishan then said, “You mustn’t take this single grain lightly. Millions upon millions of grains of rice issue from it.” The master then said, “Millions upon millions of grains of rice issue from it. Where does it issue from?” Guishan gave a great laugh and returned to his quarters. That evening Guishan took the high seat and said, “There’s a bug in the rice. Everyone, watch out for it!”

  Later Shishuang visited Daowu Yuanzhi and asked, “What is meant by, ‘All that the eye perceives is bodhi’?” Daowu said, “Novice!” Shishua
ng replied, “Yes?” “Fill the water bottles,” said Daowu. After a moment of silence Daowu said, “What did you ask a moment ago?” When Shishuang attempted to answer, Daowu stood up and left. With this Shishuang had an understanding.” (X 80:118b)

  Filling water bottles was one of the duties of novices; hence Daowu’s comment has the same meaning as “Go sweep the garden” or “Go wash your bowls.”

  Case 221 Changshi Watches a Polo Game

  Governor Wang was practicing under Muzhou Daozong. One day Daozong asked, “Why were you late in coming to the temple today?”

  “I arrived late because I was watching a game of polo,”1 Wang answered.

  Daozong asked, “Does the person hit the ball, or does the horse hit it?”

  Wang replied, “The person hits the ball.”

  “Does the person tire?” asked Daozong.

  “He tires,” answered Wang.

  “Does the horse tire?” asked Daozong.

  “It tires,” answered Wang.

  “Does a pillar tire?”2 asked Daozong.

  Wang couldn’t respond. He returned home, where, in the middle of the night, he had a sudden realization. The next day he saw Daozong and said, “I know what you meant yesterday.”

  “Does a pillar tire?” asked Daozong.

  “It tires,” replied Wang. Daozong accepted this response.

  Foyan Qingyuan commented, “This indeed is the teaching of Bodhidharma. A pillar can’t hit a ball; why then does it tire? Is there anyone who can clarify this?” [He commented further in verse:]3

  “The person tires,” “the horse tires”—this is not yet true tiring;

  “The pillar tires”—only then can one can speak of tiring.

  It is fine to realize the Unborn at a word,

  But do not seek for anything within words.

  If Baizhang had not been deafened by Mazu for three days,4

  How could Linji have understood the true meaning of Huangbo’s three-score blows?5

  People today take karmic consciousness to be the true transmission of Bodhidharma,6

  And discard his Way as though it were dung.

  1., lit., “horse-hit-ball”; a game similar to polo, in which players mounted on horses attempt to hit a ball with curved sticks.

  2.“Pillar” is a common metaphor in Zen for no-mind or the unconscious. See Case 14, note 2.

  3.As originally recorded in the Record of Foyan, the following lines are a verse by Foyan; the present text has been emended accordingly.

  4.See Case 182.

  5.See Case 187.

  6.Karmic consciousness is the unawakened, deluded consciousness that arises through the workings of fundamental ignorance.

  Case 222 No Merit, Evil Realms

  The sutra says, “Those who make offerings to you receive no merit; those who make donations to you fall into the three evil realms.”1

  1.From the Vimalakīrti Sutra, “Disciples” chapter. For the full passage see Case 70. For the three evil realms, see Case 70, note 1.

  Case 223 Pure Original Nature1

  Changshui Zixuan asked Langye Huijue, “How is it that pure, original nature immediately gives rise to mountains, rivers, and the great earth?”2

  Langye replied in a vigorous voice, “How is it that pure, original nature immediately gives rise to mountains, rivers, and the great earth?”

  With these words, Changshui suddenly understood.

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 35, Commentary on the Verse; Record of Equanimity 100, Main Case.

  2.The question is from a Śūraṅgama Sutra passage in which Pūrṇamaitrāyaṇīputra, the monk most skilled in preaching the Dharma, asks the Buddha:

  If in fact the aggregates, the faculties, the various perceived objects, and the consciousness are all the Matrix of the Thus-Come-One, which is fundamentally pure, then how is it that suddenly there came into being the mountains, the rivers, and all else on this earth that exists subject to conditions? And why are all these subject to a succession of changes, ending and then beginning again? (Buddhist Text Translation Society 2009, p. 141)

  Case 224 An Uncut Weed Patch1

  A lecture-master asked Linji, “The three vehicles’ twelve divisions of teachings all reveal buddha nature, do they not?”2

  “These wild weeds have never been cut,” said Linji.

  “Why would the Buddha have deceived people?” asked the lecture-master.

  “Where is the Buddha?” asked Linji.

  The lecture-master could not answer.

  1.Also Record of Linji, Discourse 1.

  2.“The three vehicles’ twelve divisions of teachings” refers to the totality of teachings by which the Buddha guided his students to enlightenment. The three vehicles are the three traditional Buddhist paths via which liberation may be reached: Śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva. The twelve divisions of the teachings are the various different expedients said to have been used by the Buddha.

  Case 225 The Garuḍa King

  Once when Musō Soseki was lecturing, Kanzan Egen stepped forward and said, “The Garuḍa King covers the universe.1 Where will the Heavenly Dragon hide?”2

  Musō immediately covered his head with his vestment and concealed himself under the lecture-seat. Kanzan bowed.3

  Hearing of this, Daitō said, “I’ve always had my doubts about that guy.”4

  1.Garu ḍas are mythological creatures, adopted by Buddhism from the Hindu pantheon. Half human and half eagle, they are said to feed on dragons. The Garuḍa King served as Vishnu’s steed and is sometimes used to represent the Buddha.

  2.The Heavenly Dragon refers to Musō Soseki, since Musō founded Tenryū-ji (“Temple of the Heavenly Dragon”). The fact that Tenryū-ji was founded two years after Daitō’s death indicates that this exchange is apocryphal.

  3.Kanzan and Musō’s exchange bears a strong resemblance to Record of Equanimity 44, “Xingyang’s Garuḍa”:

  A monk asked Xingyang Pou, “The Dragon King emerges from the sea; heaven and earth are quiet. Facing it, how would you respond?” The master said, “The Garuḍa King covers the universe. Who can stick his head out here?” The monk said, “And what if someone does come forth?” Xingyang said, “It would be like an eagle catching a pigeon. If you still don’t understand, check in front of the tower and you’ll know what’s real!”a The monk said, “If that’s how it is, I’ll fold my hands on my chest and retreat three steps.” Xingyang said, “You black turtle under the Sumeru Seat! Don’t wait for my stick to welt your forehead!”b

  a.“Check in front of the tower and you’ll know what’s real”: Zhao Sheng (?–250) built a high tower with an excellent view. From this tower his concubine saw a hunchback on the street and broke out in laughter. The hunchback, furious, demanded her execution. Zhao promised to do so, but he executed a criminal in her place. The ruse was discovered, causing his retainers to lose trust in him and drift away. Finally Zhao executed the concubine and displayed her head in front of the tower. The hunchback was satisfied, and the retainers returned.

  b.The black-turtle carving that supports the Sumeru Seat (the platform on which the Zen master delivers Dharma lectures) is a metaphor for an unawakened monk.

  4.According to Mujaku, the comment by Daitō, the teacher of Kanzan, can be taken as an expression either of praise or censure. It is, however, commonly believed in Japanese Zen that Daitō did not hold Musō in the highest regard, since he, like Musō, had received Dharma transmission from the Japanese master Kōhō Kennichi (1241–1316), yet—unlike Musō—remained dissatisfied and therefore trained further under Nanpo Jōmyō.

  Case 226 Split in Two, Torn in Three

  Yunmen addressed the assembly, saying, “When [the robe] is split in two, torn in three, where then is the eye of the needle?1 Pick [the pieces] up one by one and bring them here to me.”

  On behalf of the audience he said, “Above, between, below.”

  1.“The eye of the needle” translates . Since a needle is useless without an eye, the e
ye is regarded as the needle’s essence, and the expression “eye of the needle” has become a synonym for “essence” or “most important part.”

  Case 227 The Merit of Donating Food to the Sangha

  In the Discourses of Dahui it is said:

  Three fascicles of the Āgama sutras1 describe the merit of donating food to the sangha. Precept master Daoxuan asked Skanda,2 “What is the greatest of all meritorious deeds?” Skanda replied, “Donating food to the sangha.”3

  1.“Āgama sutras” is the Mahayana term for a series of four Sanskrit sutra collections that coincide roughly with the five Pali Nikāyas. The Āgama sutras are the Dīrghāgama (Long Collection, corresponding among the Nikāyas to the Dīgha-nikāya), Madhyamāgama (Medium Collection, corresponding to the Majjhima-nikāya), Samyuktāgama (Miscellaneous Collection, corresponding to the Samyutta-nikāya), and the Ekottarikāgama (Numerical Collection, corresponding to the Anguttara-nikāya).

  2.Skanda is in Zen the principal guardian deity of the sangha, temple buildings, and temple supplies; his image is enshrined in the administrative section of Zen monasteries. There are various explanations of his origin. According to the ZGDJ, Skanda, a son of Śiva, was a Hindu god who served as one of the eight heavenly generals under Virūḍhaka (ruler of the southern continent of Jambudvīpa), and was subsequently adopted into the Buddhist pantheon. Known in China as Weituotian and in Japan as Idaten, he is regarded as the fastest runner in the universe.